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Indian students learn about atomic bombing and pledge to help abolish nuclear weapons

by Shinji Morito, Staff Writer

On June 8, seven students from Bluebells School International, a combined elementary, junior high, and senior high school in India, visited the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward, Hiroshima as part of a school trip and listened to an A-bomb survivor talk about his experience of the atomic bombing. The students said that when they return to India, they plan to tell about the horror of the atomic bomb, which was conveyed to them by the A-bomb survivor, to their fellow students.

The students are from 13 to 15 years old. At the International Conference Center Hiroshima, they listened to the A-bomb account of Sadao Yamamoto, 85, a resident of Higashi Ward, through an English-speaking interpreter. When the students asked Mr. Yamamoto what they can do to help advance the cause of abolishing nuclear weapons, he told them to tell their family members and friends about the true consequences that resulted from using the atomic bomb in the Hiroshima attack.

Prior to their meeting with Mr. Yamamoto, the students offered flowers at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims and toured the Peace Memorial Museum. After the tour, Savita Tripathy, 15, said that she realized that the atomic bomb brought only tragedy to people and that she will appeal for nuclear abolition when she talks about this trip to Hiroshima at school after returning home. Some of the students also voiced their opposition to India’s nuclear weapons and the Japan-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.

Bluebells School International marks the 60th anniversary of its founding this year, and to focus on educating their students about peace, the school decided to include the visit to Hiroshima in a school trip for the first time. On June 8, they also met with five junior writers of the Chugoku Shimbun at the company’s headquarters located in Naka Ward, Hiroshima.

(Originally published on June 9, 2017)

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